What a funny boy!

I put the kids to bed last night about 9:00. About 11:00, before I went to bed, I went around to check on them like I always do. The girls were just as always, sleeping in their beds. I went down to check on Easton and this is what I found....




A whole row of paper airplanes that were not there when I kissed him goodnight the first time. It suprised me! I don't think he stayed in bed, do you?

He told me this morning that he made 50 paper airplanes! Crazy kid! I sure love him!

Fun Friday

So, I am kind of having one of THOSE days, already!

I have been donating plasma for a couple months now. I am saving up that money for our vacation later this summer. I take the kids to the daycare that they have there when I go. This morning I had an appointment for 9:15. Not to brag, but my kids usually sleep until about 9:00, so I had to wake them up "early" this morning. So, I got up, very tired, and got ready. Got the kids up, did the girls' hair, fed them breakfast and rushed out the door at 9:00. (For some reason this is a hard task in the summer, during the school year it doesn't seem so hard.)

So, I got there, dropped my kids off at the daycare and go through the little routine. They check vitals and weight, etc. Well, I was up like 5 pounds, don't know exactly what happened there. (Okay, maybe I have an idea or two, I guess cinnamon rolls and things like that don't help to lose the extra weight!!! Who knew!?!) The weight gain made me really sad. Then they check my blood and my protein is pretty low and I can't donate today. This was after I ate a protein bar before bed and drank a protein shake at 6:30 this morning. Again, not sure what happened there. I was so disappointed! All that trouble to get there and they just turn me away!! So, I picked up the kids and headed home.

Oh yeah...it is raining today, and rained on us pretty good on the way home from the plasma center. Who cares that I washed my car for the first time in forever last night! I was thinking the rain might finally be over. NOPE! So, my clean car...not so clean anymore.

I got home and started some laundry and went to have some breakfast. I poured a bowl of cereal and sat at the bar to eat it. When I was just about finished, I looked down and there was a big pool of milk around my bowl. Apparently there was a big crack down the side of my bowl that I hadn't noticed. I looked on the floor and there were little drops of milk all across the kitchen where I had walked. Just add it to the list of fun this morning! :)

I am not trying to complain as much as it sounds. I was just sitting here thinking about all that has happened since I got up and it isn't even 10 a.m. yet! But, the clouds are leaving and the sky is getting blue. I am sure that is a sign that things are looking up, I hope!

On a happier note, Paisley lost her second front tooth yesterday! So, she is a toothless girl in the front.


After she lost the first front tooth and left behind a "snaggle tooth!"



Her cute toothless smile! :)

She lost her first front tooth not too long ago. The remaining tooth decided it must have plenty of room and so I swear her tooth moved it self right into the center. It was really probably an illusion, but it looked like one lone tooth in the center of her mouth, just hanging there. Needless to say, I was sooo happy that it finally fell out! :)

Easton and Paisley went swimming yesterday for a cousin's birthday party. They had so much fun! I didn't even think about taking a camera, but they had a great time. That is when Paisley finally lost her tooth...while eating a doughnut at the party!

This post is somewhat lame. Oh well. Just some typical, everyday events in my life. I am looking forward to the weekend!

Goodbye paci, goodbye old friend

Oh pacifier! How can I thank you for the many hours that you have pacified my sweet little Avery. You pacified and comforted her in ways nothing else could. She loved you so much.



We carried you with us where ever we went for the last 2 years. You have been like a member of the family. You came in all sorts of pretty colors. We must have owned at least 20 of you. But, no matter...we loved each of you just the same.




I am afraid,though, that you may have damaged my little Avery's teeth. They are not very straight in front, and I have a sneaking suspicion that her love for you has caused this. That is why we began to cut back on Avery and your relationship. She got used to not using you during the day...but oh how she still needed you at night.



You are to her a trusted friend. She felt she could not rest her weary head without you.



Friday night you were gone. We could not find any of you. I was so tired, Avery was so tired, and we were so ready for her to go to bed. I searched every room. I have no idea where you are hiding. So, I faced the truth...that was the night! That was the night that Avery would go to bed alone, for the first time in her life. Without you...without her paci.



She actually did well. She did ask for you, but I told her you went bye-bye. She seemed to be okay with that. She went to sleep. She has slept each nap and night time without you since then. Don't worry, you are not forgotten. She still asks for you. But I respond with, "Where is paci?" And she sadly says, "Bye-bye."



Good bye old friend. You have been good to us. You have been like a second mother to my baby. But she is not a baby anymore, we must give you up. And we have. I am so proud of my little Avery. Good bye paci...forever!

Happy Father's Day

I just wanted to take a few minutes and honor the great fathers in my life. There are so many examples of wonderful fathers in my life, but I choose to focus on 3.



First and foremost, the father of my children. Without him, I would not be able to experience this most wonderful of all gifts, motherhood. I love Dave for the caring father he is to my children. I am so grateful that he is such a playful dad.



I am not as playful, I am much more serious and worried about the daily needs of the household. I am so grateful that I got to witness my children's father out on the trampoline the other night just playing with my children. They were laughing so loud. It was a beautiful scene.

I can also see the love that he has for them through the way that he worries about them. He is not a worrier...I am. But, when it comes to the kids, he worries much more about them. It is not that I don't care as much...it is that I can not worry that much about every minute of their lives as a stay at home mom because I would be a basket case. I have learned to worry a little less. But, to me it is very sweet that he worries over them so much when he is at home.



I am extremely grateful for Dave being so helpful to me with the kids. He has changed his share, okay maybe not his share :), but MANY diapers, fed many meals, fixed many little plates, wiped many tears, given many hugs, and made many laughs for Easton, Paisley, and Avery.



He is such a wonderful help to me. Each week in sacrament meeting it seems that I hit a "wall". Usually with about 15 minutes left, I have suddenly had it with the constant busyness of dealing with 3 young children and trying to keep them quiet and entertained. That is when I turn to my husband and hand off the baby and take a few minutes to myself. He is always so willing to do this for me. I only need a couple minutes and then I am rejuvinated and ready to continue on. But, this happens in our daily life also, and I am so thankful that he is so willing to jump in and let me become rejuvinated as a mother.

Thank you, Dave, for all you do as a father and for my 3 most precious gifts!


Of course, it wouldn't be Father's Day if I did not take a moment to write about my own father.



I am in constant awe of my father. In my eyes, my dad does no wrong. I am confident that he truly does, I am sure he isn't perfect. But, my eyes don't see it, he is perfect to me. I love him so much for his example. He is such a wonderful man. He raised me so well and taught me so many things. I wouldn't be the woman I am today without him. Thank you, dad, I love you so much!

And, Dave's dad, John.


John looking very pretty in a Little Mermaid wig! :)

I am extremely grateful for him as well. Without him, I wouldn't have my husband. I am so grateful for the good man that he is. I always joke that Dave is just like his dad. Dave's mom will agree with me, I think. It is so funny to me. So, if you want to know Dave's dad, just get to know Dave! :) They have the same funny, teasing sense of humor. It took me a while to get to know John, because I couldn't read him. He would seem serious, but it was a joke. I know now that most of the things he says is a joke or a tease. It makes it fun to be around him, always laughter. I am sad that we can not be with him today. They live in Washington. But, John, I am thinking of you. Thank you for raising a great man. Thank you for making me feel at home in your family. Happy Father's Day!

I also am blessed to have wonderful grandfathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, and friends who are all great fathers. Happy Fathers Day!

T-ball and Soccer Fun!

Just thought I would post some T-ball pictures! We are in our 3rd week of T-ball this week. It has been a lot of fun. With all the rain we have only had one game rain out, pretty amazing! I love watching them play. And, I love talking to the other moms as they play. Sometimes it is a toss up of which part is more fun! Just kidding...but I do enjoy the watching and the talking very much!




All 3 above are of Easton, not great because I was a little too far away



I don't know what she was doing here!! That's my silly Paisley!



It has been especially fun to watch Easton's team this year. This is most of the players' 3rd year of T-ball and they are really starting to understand the rules of the game. Outs actually count as outs in this age group. It makes it much more of a defensive game than Paisley's which is almost exclusively an offensive game. But, it is very fun as a mom to watch your children improve. As I have said before, I am enjoying very much being a mom in the stands and am looking forward to many more years of it!


As I was uploading pictures for this post, I realized I haven't posted about Easton's last soccer game. He had a great season and really learned a lot this year. He had a really great coach which helped. I didn't take my camera to every game, so here are a few shots from his last game when I did take my camera...





Easton reading to Avery when it was his turn to sit out.

Yellowstone Park...

Dave and I decided to take the kids to Yellowstone Park this last weekend. We took them about 2 1/2 years ago when I was pregnant with Avery and they still talk about it. Well, at least Easton does. Paisley was still kind of young and doesn't remember much. I was pretty excited, but a little worried about the long day in the car with the 3 kids!

We left about 9:20 a.m. and got to West Yellowstone right about 11:00. Not too bad. The kids all did well on the ride down. We have two portable DVD players, so Easton watched his movies and the girls watched theirs. They were all quiet and happy!

We decided to do the whole loop around the perimeter of the park. We knew it would be a long day, but we wanted to see Old Faithful which was in the south and Mammoth which was clear up north. So, we headed out...

We saw a bald eagle up in her nest. That was really neat. Soon after that we saw several buffalo, which we ended up seeing a ton of all through the park.


<


Those are amazing animals! They are like tanks! Dave and I were talking about how bad it would be to hit one with your car! Anyway, then we stopped at some of the "stink pots".






They were stinky as always, but really neat to look at. The kids enjoyed them.

Then on to Old Faithful. We weren't sure when Old Faithful would be erupting next. We had packed a picnic lunch and were all pretty hungry at that point. So, we decided to eat our lunch down on the benches right by Old Faithful. It was a little chaotic fixing all of our sandwiches with only a bench and no table, but we managed.






We ended up watching Old Faithful erupt right as we were finishing up lunch. It worked out perfect, killed two birds with one stone! :)

We got back on the road again and drove for quite a while. We came to the Fishing Bridge and decided to get out and walk across the walk way on the bridge to let the kids stretch their legs.


I love this picture! This is my beautiful family walking towards the Fishing Bridge!

It worried us having Avery walk close to the railing with the big swift river flowing underneath. On the other side of the walk way was a bench you could sit on to look at the river. There would be bench and then a pillar and more bench. So, I had Avery walk along the bench and then when we got to a pillar, I would swing her out and around and back to the bench. She thought this was great fun! So, one of the times I swung her pretty quickly and I heard "plop". I looked down, and there was her shoe in the river!! We were high up, and there was no possible way to get it out.



I was SO sad! I loved her little shoes. They were my favorites! We hadn't had them long and she had hardly wore them!! So, the rest of the day we had to carry her or put her in the stroller because of her bare foot!! She kept asking, "Shoes, shoes?" and I would say "They went bye-bye in the water" and she would sadly say "oh." It was funny!

Then for the best part of the trip. We got into "bear country!" We got to see 5 bears in all! First a black bear, then a grizzly bear, then a baby black bear (didn't see the mother), and finally a mother and baby black bear. The first 3 bears that we saw were pretty close up. Not so close that we were in danger, but close enough to see clearly. It was the greatest thing! The kids were so excited! I had never seen a bear in the wild, and I didn't expect to see one that day. But, to see 5! We felt very lucky.

We also saw many elk, a deer, and a few antelope. We had a very good day for seeing animals! Unfortunately our camera battery died right after we lost Avery's shoe so we didn't get any pictures of the bears except on our cell phones. I will try to upload them somehow!

We finally got back to the town of West Yellowstone about 7:30 p.m. We stopped and had some dinner and then made it home about 10:30. It was such a fun day as a family! We were all EXHAUSTED, but happy! I am so glad that we took this trip!

The Beautiful Outdoors!

I have a new calling in the ward. I was in the Relief Society Presidency for about 9 1/2 months. I loved that calling. I was the secretary. It was a great calling. I really felt like I got to know a lot of the women in our ward. I served with really fun women, in two different presidencies. I was very surprised that we got released, but with change comes new opportunities, right?? Are you ready for my new opportunity/calling???






Bear Cub Scout Leader!!

I was really surprised to receive that calling! I have NEVER done anything with scouting. Easton isn't quite old enough, so I literally know NOTHING! But, I gladly accepted and now I feel a little in over my head. But, I have really good friends to work with in scouts and I know they will help me!

So, last Thursday was my first official scout activity. We went on a hike! Oh, how I LOVE to hike!?!?! But, it was actually a pretty easy and fun hike. There were 3 leaders there and we all have sons who are 7, so we brought them with us even if they weren't quite old enough. So, in all there were 14 boys. Easton was very excited that he was able to go and I could tell that he felt like a "big kid." I left the girls with my friend, Megan, who volunteered to watch them. Thank you SO much, Megan!

Hike day was a little cloudy, but that made it nice because it wasn't hot. It was the perfect temperature for hiking. The boys all did really well. We got through the hike relatively quickly, with a few stops on the way to...

Take a group photo:



Read signs:



Look at the scenery:



and Find lizards! (someone spotted one and they were all around that tree trying to catch it.)



Then, it was on to lunch.



Good ol' sack lunches from home. There is something about being in the beautiful outdoors that makes sack lunches taste really good to me.

Just a few more pictures from our hike:







I had a really great time. I am thankful for this new opportunity. There is SO much I need to learn, but the journey will be great, I am sure!